After the snow and biting cold of the preceding week the comparatively balmy weather of Sunday morning was a relief for the group of walkers gathered in Richmond Park. This walk was to be somewhat unusual for the Walkative schedule being eight miles through parkland with not a pavement in sight: a circular walk around Richmond Park. The concept of the walk was to examine the ecological characteristics of the park’s environment, its history as a royal park founded on confiscated land, and the experience of following this wall — originally built by Charles I — all the way around until we arrived back at Richmond Gate.

Over the next few hours we followed the paths as close to the wall as we could, at times through mud and on makeshift bridges over small streams. There were sightings of deer, frozen ponds, and ancient trees. We talked about fractured landscapes and fractured monarchy, always with the wall on our left until we arrived back at the beginning.